USPTO Issues Patent for COM701, Anti-PD-1 Antibody Use

Compugen announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a new patent covering method of use of COM701, a first-in-class therapeutic antibody targeting PVRIG, in combination with anti-PD-1 antibodies.

U.S. Patent No. 10,351,625, titled "Anti-PVRIG Antibodies and Methods of Use," augments a previously issued patent (U.S. Patent no. 9,714,289) by expanding and protecting the use of COM701 for activating T cells in cancer patients to include the combination of COM701 with any anti-PD-1 antibody. Activating T cells results in stimulating the immune system, and as such is the basis for cancer immunotherapy treatment.

In addition, a separate method of use patent titled "Anti-TIGIT antibodies, anti-PVRIG antibodies and combinations thereof," (U.S. Patent no. 10,124,061) which was granted in November 2018 includes claims covering the combination of COM701 and COM902, Compugen's anti-TIGIT antibody, for activating T cells in cancer patients.

U.S. Patent No. 10,351,625 is expected to expire no earlier than February 2036 in the United States.

COM701 is a humanized antibody that binds with high affinity to PVRIG, a novel immune checkpoint target candidate discovered by Compugen, blocking the interaction with its ligand, PVRL2. Blockade of PVRIG by COM701 has demonstrated potent, reproducible enhancement of T cell activation, consistent with the desired mechanism of action of activating T cells in the tumor microenvironment to generate anti-tumor immune responses. In addition, COM701 combined with antagonist anti-PD-1 antibodies has demonstrated synergistic effects on human T cell stimulation, indicating an intersection of the PVRIG and PD-1 inhibitory pathways and the potential of these combinations to further enhance immune response against tumors.

PVRIG and TIGIT constitute parallel immune checkpoint pathways that counteract DNAM-1, a costimulatory molecule on T cells and NK cells. Preclinical data for COM701 suggest that PVRIG may be a dominant checkpoint in diverse patient populations with tumors that express elevated PVRL2 as compared to expression of the TIGIT ligand PVR. This include patients with breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. In addition, expression studies show that PVRIG, TIGIT, and their respective ligands, are expressed in a broad variety of tumor types, such as those noted above, as well as lung, kidney, and head & neck cancers. In these tumors the blockade of both TIGIT and PVRIG may be required to sufficiently stimulate an anti-tumor immune response, with or without additional PD-1 pathway blockade.

COM701 is in Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with advanced solid tumors, to evaluate monotherapy and combination therapy with a PD-1 inhibitor.

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